The year started out quite normal. I continued to work as Organization Chair and sent out Communiqués to encourage membership drives, worked on the Victoria Diocesan website development and started to plan for our Diocesan convention by booking speakers.
Then our President, Maureen Ingram’s husband’s health worsened and I took on more of her responsibilities such as developing the Diocesan convention agenda and working with the hosting Council. Then a few weeks before the convention, Maureen became ill and resigned. I was now acting President. Then a week before the convention, Daisy Mah, our Secretary resigned. Thank God, for Agnes Geiger, who stepped into her role.
I am happy to report that the convention was a huge success. Barb Dowding presented a workshop on National’s strategy. We had a panel on mental health with Moira King, Diocesan Pastoral Care Outreach Chair, a lawyer who helped develop the BC Mental Health Act, a psychiatric nurse and a social worker. We also had a young Internet guru share tips on Internet safety. You can read all about it on our Diocesan website cwldov.org.
We had an election and I am now officially President. We have a new Executive team and for the past few weeks, have been exchanging information and sharing materials pertinent to our positions. We have a summer planning meeting scheduled for July where we will get together with Parish Presidents to review our vision and plan activities for the rest of the year. Our fall interim meeting is in early October and will develop our Diocesan theme to complement the new National and Provincial themes.
The Victoria Diocese is hosting the 2019 Provincial Convention in Nanaimo, so in addition to managing the activities of our Diocesan Council, I will be overseeing the planning of the provincial convention.
With all the changes we have had to react to in our Diocesan Council, having a President-Elect is one of the most important positions. If I hadn’t been prepared to take over, the transition would have been much more difficult. As President, I plan to mentor and delegate, to give our Executive and Chairpersons the opportunity to make decisions to give them the confidence to take on responsibilities.
As a League, our continuous challenge is to ensure that we remain vibrant and relevant to our Catholic community of women. I look forward to attending the National Convention in Winnipeg and to bring the information back to my Council so that we can build on our foundation of faith, service and social justice.